Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Books about Bullying

Life Strategies for Dealing with Bullies by Jay McGraw (AKA Dr. Phil's son) is a good book about bullying to hand your kid. But I bet there's something better...

Life Strategies talks directly to kids - not parents - and the emphasis is on relating some important messages. Chiefly, "you're not alone" and "the situation isn't hopeless." On those accounts, it succeeds. However, I don't think it delivers on its title's promise. It's very short on practical advice about how kids can successfully handle bullying situations.

The primary advice - and it's good advice - is "tell an adult."

I'm happy about that, and I repeat, it's really, really good advice! So, if your kid is reluctant to read much on the subject and this one is palatable to him or her, by all means, grab it!

Still, bullying is a big problem and while "tell an adult" is good advice it's after-the-fact advice.  I'm looking for books on what we (kids AND adults) can do to alleviate, mitigate, reduce, or just plain wipe out the problem. How can we raise kids who don't bully? And raise kids who aren't bully-magnets?

Got recommendations? I'm all ears.

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